


The Angel From Hell

by IdlyDistracted



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, One Shot, Writing Prompt Wednesday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 11:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11690391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdlyDistracted/pseuds/IdlyDistracted
Summary: Decided to do a one-shot from the Wednesday writing prompt. It was: Write a piece from the perspective of an antagonist, that makes a character you love seem like a monster.I went with Waverly, from the perspective of her father (Well, not technically her father, but the guy who raised her).Enjoy!





	The Angel From Hell

**Author's Note:**

> I took a few liberties with the world. Namely, making Waverly part-revenant, and making up everything with Waverly's mother and her relationship with Ward.

It ended the way it began. With three ingredients that encapsulated our entire world: hands, raised voices, and whiskey.

“I can’t do this anymore. I’m done.”

But, of course, that’s not entirely true. That’s where our story ended- true- but our world came to a halt precisely four years, nine months and 358 days before that moment. At least it did for me. My lungs were still pulling in air, and my heart was still beating, but my life ended the day you were with him. The day you brought that thing into existence. You see, it wasn’t Wynonna and Peacemaker that did me in. No. The thing that killed me was the reality of her. The life of Waverly.

I still remember, of course, the first time I ever laid eyes on you, in that dingy club at the edge of Purgatory. The music was so loud I couldn’t hear myself think, but I knew I was in love the moment I spied your long brown hair at the other end of the bar. It was like I had been living in a dream and seeing you had made me finally wake up for the first time. My palms were sweaty, my throat felt dry, and my stomach led me to believe I would hurl at any moment, but I just knew I had to talk to you. And so, I made my way to the end of that bar.

My hand fell upon your shoulder. You turned around, as if in slow motion, and I felt the air around me dissipate. You were even more beautiful up close.

“Hello, ma’am. I was hoping you would allow me the honor of buying you a drink?”

“Sorry. Could you speak up? The music is so loud in here.”

I raised my voice. “Would you allow me to buy you a drink?”

You smiled, tucked a piece of that beautiful hair behind your ear and my world stopped. “Well, that’s mighty kind of you.”

“What’ll you have?”

“Whiskey on the rocks.”

The next three years were the best I ever had. You made me the happiest man on Earth. Made me forget about the birthday that would change my whole life. So much so that when my twenty-seventh did come around, I forgot to be scared.

And then I saw my first Revenant.

Luckily, he was a first-generation. He managed to get a few good licks in, though, before I finally fumbled Peacemaker and managed to hit him straight between the eyes. His screams of pain were almost enough to make me feel sorry for him, watching the flames of Hell pull him back home to them again. Nothing compared, however, to the look of horror I found upon your face when I turned around. In that moment, we knew nothing would ever be the same, and I knew that your expression would haunt me for the rest of my days.

Of course, not every Revenant was as easy to put down. Some were cunning, some were skilled in combat. Some just seemed to have drawn a poor lot in life. They were good people. Better than me. They were as much victims of this curse as I was.

I remember seeing that expression of fear on your face again, the day we found out you were pregnant. By then, you knew enough about the curse to know that Willa would have to pick up Peacemaker and try to succeed if I were to fail. That’s why we decided to start training her as soon as possible. Allow her to have the best shot she could at ending this curse once and for all. I knew you thought I was too hard on her. Pushed her too hard in her training. But I knew what she was going to have to go through. I knew how this “job” would tear her to shreds and stamp out any trace of humanity she managed to hold on to. I knew it would be easier if I stamped it out for her.

It wasn’t easy for me, at first. Every time she fell, or cried, or wanted to give up, I just wanted to wrap her in my arms and shield her from all the terrors of the world. Wanted to be the kind of father who encouraged her to follow her dreams, to fall in love. To live. But I knew none of that would help her, in the long run. This curse would take all of that away from her. It was better she never knew happiness was an option.

Whiskey helped me dull all the colors in the world. The fear of failure. The self-loathing at turning my daughter into this unemotional assassin. The change in your eyes from the love I once saw to the uncertainty I did now. As though you were looking at a stranger instead of the man you had fallen in love with at the end of a bar at the edge of Purgatory.

Willa was four when you gave birth to her sister. Wynonna was an attempt to get some of that fire back in our marriage. We both knew she was a last-ditch effort to rediscover the love we once shared. She was safe from the curse. She could be loved, and protected. She could have the life we wished Willa could have had. We should have known better.

Our life was too far broken to be repaired. It was all slamming doors and fists and nights spent on the couch. I was more focused on the bottom of a bottle than I was on ending this curse and trying to get my life back. You were too focused on keeping yourself away from me for Wynonna to have any hope at a normal childhood.

You started disappearing for longer and longer periods of time. I never knew when it would happen again. I’d wake up on the coach, and you’d be gone without so much as a note, leaving me alone with our ten and six-year-old daughters. I knew you needed to get away from me. I understood. I kept taking all my frustrations out on you. I never thought about where you had been going or who you had been staying with though. Not until that moment. The one where everything I knew fell apart.

“I’m pregnant.”

“That’s impossible. You and I haven’t- “

“It isn’t yours.”

“What are you saying?”

“You know what I’m saying.”

“How could you- “

“There’s something else… I don’t think it’s entirely human.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Its father is a Revenant.”

She looked so much like you when she was born. So beautiful. So innocent. So perfect. It made me hate her even more. How could she look so normal when she came from such a disgusting act? When her father was a servant of the Devil himself? You said you would leave if I didn’t let her stay with us, so what else could I do? Swans mate for life.

Waverly was everything Willa wasn’t. She was sweet, and kind. Always smiling. I could almost forget there was evil inside her. I could almost forget she wasn’t just as much a part of this curse as I was. I could almost forget she wasn’t mine. Almost.

You poured everything you had into Waverly. She was your entire world. She was the salvation and comfort you found amidst the Earp curse. The one part of your life you could pretend wasn’t tainted by Revenant blood because she wasn’t covered in crimson like the rest of us. The blood was in her veins, not covering her skin. And you thought that made her better than the rest of us. She was your angel, and the rest of us were your reminders that you were still living in Hell.

I had never seen you more broken than the day you discovered she couldn’t leave the Ghost River Triangle. It was like all the light left your eyes in that one moment. You wanted to leave me so badly, I knew. Wanted to leave Willa and Wynonna behind and start over with just you and your angel. But the curse was inside Waverly too. She was just on the other side of it. She was trapped here, and you had to decide whose wings to clip: hers or yours.

I tried one last ditch at keeping you around. I offered Bobo Willa in exchange for leaving us alone. She was already so broken, I didn’t think anything he would do to her could make her any worse. Honestly, she was better off dead than with the weight of this curse on her shoulders. We agreed that we would wait until Willa was eleven. Old enough to take care of herself before the deal would be put into place. It was the closest thing to relief I had felt since the day I turned twenty-seven. I thought you and I would have a chance to be happy again. Even if it did mean seeing Waverly and being reminded of your infidelity every single day.

When I got home, you had all your bags in the bed of the truck, and I knew I was too late. I heard the screen door slam shut and looked up to see you hugging Waverly. I had never seen such love in your eyes. Not even for me. She had found a way into your heart in a way I never had. It made me hate her more. You stood up, turned, and walked right past me to the driver’s side of the truck. I slammed it shut before you had a chance to slip inside. My hand just inches from your face. The scent of whiskey heavy on my breath.

“So that’s it, then? You’re leaving?”

“Yes. I am. I can’t do this anymore. I’m done.”

“You’d leave your precious angel behind. With me? With us?”

“She’s strong. Even you couldn’t break her.”

“I might have to, you know. She’s half Revenant. She’s part of this curse.”

“She is. But I know you, and you won’t end it. You’re not man enough. Besides, as much as you don’t want to admit it, I’ve seen the way you look at her when you think no one can see. You love her just as much as I do.”

I watched you drive away, and although I could never truly admit it, I knew you were right. How could I not love the girl who looked so much like you? Who was the epitome of everything that drew me towards you that first day? I hated her with every fiber of my being for everything she represented: our failed marriage, you straying, the curse that ruined my life. But I couldn’t help but love her for all the ways she reflected you. And as much as I tried to break her- and I tried- she never did. I ignored every birthday, denied every request for school photos, didn’t offer so much as a second glance at her ever-perfect report cards. Nothing I did even diminished the light she had. Nothing I did even so much as chipped her soul.

I hated Waverly every second she existed because she was the physical form of the love I knew I had let slip through my fingers. I hated Waverly because, even as a half-demon, she seemed to have a better chance at breaking this curse than any Earp ever had. I hated Waverly, because I didn’t know how to not love her. I hated her because she was you. 

Swans are supposed to mate for life. Instead, you flew away and left me to rot in hell with your angel.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
